'Mildred Pierce': Evan Rachel Wood talks nude scene in HBO miniseries

Evan Rachel Wood is taking a cue from her on-screen mother, Kate Winslet, in the upcoming HBO miniseries "Mildred Pierce."

Wood opted to bare it all for the project, showing full frontal nudity. Something Winslet famously did in 2008 for "The Reader."

"I looked at Kate and she was like, 'You've got to do it. Trust me, it's so brave. Put a merkin on and you'll be fine.'" Wood tells Fancast.

So what's a merkin, anyway?

"Let's just say, I had to wear a wig because it was in the 30s, and everything had to look like it was in the 30s," the actress explains. Well, there's a visual for you. 

Still, going nude on film wasn't an easy decision for Wood.

"I was a lot more nervous than I thought I was going to be," she confesses. "I hadn't made up my mind if I was going to go full until we were rehearsing, and I was talking to Todd [Haynes, the writer/director] -- like 'What do you think?' -- and he was like, 'I think we're going to be chickening out if we don't just go for it.'"

And go for it she did, admitting that she feels it was the right choice.

"I also felt I had to prove it to myself. I had to do it at least once -- get it all on film now so when I'm 80 I can look back at it and say, 'Yeah! I did that!'"

You can see Wood (fully clothed) as Vida, Winslet's self-centered daughter, in the "Mildred Pierce" trailer. The miniseries debuts Sunday Mar. 27.